Folds of Honor Scholarships: You Only Need a 10% Rating to Qualify

Current as of June 26, 2026. Folds of Honor runs one application window a year and can change its rules — confirm everything at foldsofhonor.org before you apply.

Most military scholarship lists assume you need a high disability rating to qualify for anything. Folds of Honor is the exception worth knowing about: for its college and trade-school money, a service-connected VA rating as low as 10% gets a veteran’s spouse or kids in the door. No 70%. No “permanent and total.” Ten percent.

The award is up to $5,000 a year, and a lot of eligible families never apply because they assume they’re not “disabled enough.” They are. Here’s exactly who qualifies and how to claim it.

What you get

Folds of Honor awards up to $5,000 per academic year toward education. For higher ed it pays out by term:

• Up to $2,500 per term for full-time students
• Up to $1,250 per term for part-time (minimum $100)

One catch worth knowing up front: the money goes straight to the school, not to you. It covers tuition, most fees, required textbooks, and required uniforms. This isn’t a living-expenses check like the GI Bill or Chapter 35 DEA — it’s restricted to direct education costs, and any leftover funds go back to the foundation.

The scholarship is need-based. Folds of Honor looks at your unmet need — the tuition, fees, on-campus housing, meal plans, and books a term costs after other aid and scholarships are applied. To keep an award once it’s offered, the student has to show a 2.0 or higher GPA for their two most recent terms.

The 10% bar — and who actually qualifies

This is the part that surprises people. For the Military Higher Education scholarship — college, trade school, certificate, or grad program — the service member only needs to fit one of these:

• Killed in action, or killed in the line of duty (including suicide)
• Died after service with a VA disability rating (accident, illness, or suicide)
• Disabled with a VA service-connected rating of 10% or higher
• On active duty with a Purple Heart

That 10% threshold is the headline. A veteran with a 10% rating for tinnitus or a bad knee meets the same bar as a 100% rated veteran. If you’ve got a rating decision letter with any combined percentage on it, your dependents likely qualify.

Who counts as a dependent: the service member’s child or spouse. A couple of details that trip families up:

• A spouse can be remarried and still apply using the deceased service member’s documents — but a spouse who is legally separated or divorced from the service member is no longer eligible.
• For higher ed, spouses have no age limit.

The K-12 fund has a higher bar

Folds of Honor also runs a Children’s Fund for K-12 private-school tuition. The eligibility is stricter there: the disabled-veteran threshold jumps to 90% or higher (the death and line-of-duty categories still apply). So if you’re looking at private grade-school tuition on a low rating, that’s the one door the 10% rule doesn’t open.

First responders are eligible too

Since 2022, Folds of Honor isn’t just military. Spouses and children of fallen or disabled first responders — police, firefighters, EMS — can apply under the same program, with their own eligibility sheet. If that’s your family, don’t skip it because the name sounds military-only.

When to apply — the window is short

Folds of Honor opens one application window a year: February 1 through March 31. Miss it and you wait until next year. There’s no rolling deadline and no extension, so set a reminder for late January.

Because it’s a single annual cycle, have your documents ready before the window opens:

1. The application — completed online through the Folds of Honor portal at foldsofhonor.org/scholarships.
2. Proof of your relationship — a current military ID showing the service member as sponsor, or a birth certificate (for a child) or marriage license (for a spouse).
3. The service member’s documents — the DD214 (or DD1300 for KIA), plus a current-year VA Benefit Summary Letter showing the rating if you’re qualifying on disability. Pull that letter from VA.gov before you start.
4. Proof of enrollment at an accredited college, trade, or certificate program.

Stack it with everything else

Folds of Honor is need-based and pays the school directly, which means it pairs cleanly with benefits that pay you. A dependent can run a state tuition waiver, Chapter 35 DEA, and a Folds of Honor award in the same year — the waiver kills tuition, DEA’s monthly check covers living costs, and Folds of Honor fills whatever gap is left. Apply for all of them.

Bottom line

If a veteran in your family has any VA rating of 10% or more, their spouse and kids have a shot at up to $5,000 a year for school that most people never claim. The application only opens February 1 through March 31, so get your DD214 and VA Benefit Summary Letter in hand now and apply the day it opens.

Official sources:

• Folds of Honor — Scholarships
• Folds of Honor — Military Scholarships (amounts + window)
• Military Higher Education eligibility requirements (PDF)

Not an official VA, DoD, or Folds of Honor website. We summarize public information to help you find benefits — always confirm details with Folds of Honor before applying.